Wednesday, 3 June 2015

The siege of Helm's deep

The battle of the Hornburg played with GW rules. The scenario comes from the siege of Gondor supplement: there are five objective markers spread around the fortress, the side who controls most of them by the battle's end will be the winner. We used the forces mentioned in the book, not Peter Jackson's version.

The armies:

Light:

Gimli

Legolas with armour

Aragorn with armour and Anduril

Theoden with shield

Eomer with shield

Gamling with royal banner of Rohan

21 warriors of Rohan with 2 handed weapons/shields/spears/bows

Darkness

4 uruk captains (hornblowers)

Dunland men chieftain

4 uruks with banner

6 bersekers uruk hai (2 handed axes)

20 uruk hai with shield/bow

4 Uruk hai with crossbow

3 uruk hai demolition teams

22 orcs with 2 handed weapons

20 orcs with shield/bow

23 dunland men with shields

Both grups combine orcs, men of dunland and uruks, using the first two as cover for the uruks and the charges.

The forces of Saruman carry no less than three demolition charges heading to the gate

While the siege ladders are aimed at the deeping wall

The deeping wall is defended by Aragorn, Guimli and Theoden

While Gamling Eomer and Legolas protect the Hornburg itself

Eomer

Aragorn, Theoden and Gimli

Gamling

Saruman's hordes move forward

The cotton puffs mark the uruks with flaming brands

The uruks hit the wall

Ladders!

Legolas is killed by a crossbolt at the same time

Eomer leads a party of rohirrim to aid the defenders of the deeping wall

The soldiers of Saruman begin to advance over the causeway

Battle is joined over the deeping wall, with the orcs gaining a foothold in the right

The defenders move to cover the gate in the Hornburg

Aragorn, Theoden and Gimli stem the tide of darkness

While Eomer fights a second group further to the left

Charges incoming

It's a hard life fighting for the darkness

Specially when Aragorn is at the top of the ladder!

The charge is dropped next to the gates

The defenders of the inner court move to hold back the inevitabe onslaught

However, a rohirrim arrow kills the berseker carrying the brand and the uruk enginners will spend several turns gathering the courage to blow themselves and the gates while igniting the powder (quite a suicidal act!), the other bersekers will be unable to advance, trapped in the jam of troops over the causeway

Unfortunatelly Gimli is brought down under the uruk's blades; well at least he had killed several more evil soldiers than legolas's single kill

Aragorn moves towards the Hornburg to aid in the defence

But suddenly....

Ka-booom!

The gate (and several evil soldiers) are blown up

Theoden now holds a section of the deeping wall all in his own. Funnily eonough, since in the siege of Minas Tirith that same model hold in his own a wall against a siege tower full of easterlings and southrons after all the defenders had been killed.

Orcs and uruks fall before the might of the heir of Isildur who lets none stand in his path. Eomer had at this point climbed back to the Hornburg to defend the gate.

The sons of Eorl charge forward rather that wait for the besiegers, Gamling (with the banner) uses his might to call several heroic moves and charge before Saruman's soldiers thus protecting the objective.

But the wikedness of Saruman knows no boundaries, while a line of his soldiers blocks the defenders a charge is placed to blow them both!

Leaving a huge gap in the causeway wich is soon filled by the endless hordes of evil

Theoden finally succumbs to his many wounds

While Aragorn leaves the now lost deeping wall

The new forces that pour into the gate are the elite of Saruman's armies: uruks and berserkers, the previous troops were just the bait to draw the defenders forth!

The rohirrim line begins to crumble as some defenders are killed easily trapped inside the confines of the gate

While climbing the ladder to the Hornburg Aragorn recieves a wound by an uruk arrow, reminds you of some gondorian?

The melee continues near the gate, with the objective now in uruk claws

Eomer now has joined the fray

Aragorn climbs the ladder, turns round and kicks it down with a 6' killing one of the orcs climbing it.

A lone bowman left guarding the objective in the tower is killed by the massed fire of bows and crossbows

While Aragorn reaches the ladder to the gate

Eomer pushes forward and contests the objective marker, but Gamling, fighting to his right, is killed

In the last turn, the banners of Isengard wave over the towers of Helm's Deep claiming yet another objective!

Aragorn is unable to reach the fight under the gate

And Eomer is killed, losing the objective

Final count: the light controls the two objectives in the inner court

The uruks (and friends) control the objective marker in the gate

The one in the ladder leading from the south tower to the deeping wall

And the one in the wall itself. With a 3-2 the day belongs to the darkness.

A hard won victory for the forces of evil, won only at the last minute; the numeric superiority of Saruman's forces proved useless in the cramped confines of Helm's Deep and only at great (and unsuspecting) sacrifice by his minions, has Saruman achieved victory. In fact the light's player lost the battle when he moved Aragorn from the objective in the tower if he had left him there he would have claimed perhaps the third marker.

Next scenario: Forth eorlingas!

Aragorn leds the last three defenders of the Hornburg to the safety of the Aglarond,